


And They Knew

by orphan_account



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017), Varchie - Fandom
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 02:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17695901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: His body burns inside out and he can't breathe.She misses him so much.





	And They Knew

He didn’t expect things to go right to the way they were before he left but he did expect some sort of normalcy when he got back. Which definitely didn’t happen because the Gargoyle king was running around, Hiram had been shot, Veronica blamed him and Reggie had wormed his way between them. Of course, Veronica apologized for blaming him and Reggie didn’t so much worm his way in as much as he was there for her when she needed someone and that hurts. He’s doing okay now though, he’s boxing and he has music and Josie.

Josie and he have this agreement, purely physical no feelings, just the comfort of someone else. He’s not ready for more, his heart still hurts when he sees Veronica and Reggie in the halls. He’ll get through it though, at the very least they’re hanging out together with Betty and Jughead.

He catches himself entranced by her beauty now and then and he has to pinch himself to snap out of it. He has to remind himself that they aren’t together and he can’t look at her like she put the moon in the sky, especially when Reggie is there. Reggie looks at her the same and it tugs at his heartstrings because he thought that only he could look at Veronica like she was truly everything good in the world.

There’s a part of him that still believes he and Ronnie will be together in the future, he doesn’t feel like their story has ended, but for now he has to stop holding out hope and just move on, otherwise, it hurts too much.

 

***

He’s Josie’s date to the dance, _as friends_ , and when he picks her up and he sees her, his breath hitches at how beautiful she looks. He thinks that maybe being with Josie as more than friends, wouldn’t be such a bad idea. That changes quickly when he sees Veronica giggling at something Reggie whispered in her ear and he realizes that he’s not over her. He can’t do that to Josie, she’s too good.

***

His dad, FP, Jughead, and he go on a guys trip, they think it’ll do him well and for the most part, it does. It stops being enjoyable when they give him the fifth degree on how he’s feeling and if they can do anything to help.

He thinks that they could erase Veronica from his brain, that’ll help. He takes it back immediately after he’s thought it because he wouldn’t change his past with her for anything. Those memories are what keeps him going sometimes. It reminds him of what could have been or what could be.

Maybe it isn’t that good.

***

He stopped licking his wounds about the SAT’s a while ago, and he’s already buckled down to study for them because he needs all the extra time possible. Josie helps him out when she has time and he is so thankful for her friendship, he doesn’t know how he’ll ever repay her. He doesn’t want anything to change between them but he can feel Josie’s lingering eyes and a sad smile. He’s hurting her and he has to end their arrangement soon.

Try as he might, he can’t put his first love behind him and he refuses to lead Josie on.

He doesn’t want to lose her friendship but he won’t hurt her.

***

Josie takes it as best she can, a wet smile and teary eyes. She tells him that it’ll take her a bit to move past the idea of what they could have been and be able to focus just on their friendship but that she understands. She also tells him that she hopes that one day it doesn’t hurt him to see Veronica and Reggie together and that she’ll be there for him but not yet.

He hugs her and watches her go, he doesn’t tell her that he understands the need to move on past the idea of what could have been.

Past the idea of a whole future with one person, the small apartment, the late night studying, the careers, the growth, the proposal, the wedding, the kids, everything. He’s tried so hard but when he closes his eyes it’s still her walking down the aisle.

That’s not his reality and it burns so deep that he can’t breathe.

***

He sees her in her cheerleading uniform, her back turned away from him and her head is downcast. He walks up to her and gently sits next to her, she looks up at him and gives him a pensive smile. Her body leaning towards his.

“You okay?” She nods her head and he places a hand soothing on her back.

***

When Archie gets back, she pushes everything that has happened to the back of her mind and her sole focus is him. He’s back and they can be together and nothing else matters.

Everything crashes down around her though, her dad gets shot and the first thing that pops into her head is Archie. She hates herself for thinking it but he isn’t the same and she has to admit that.

After she accuses him, she sees the look on his face and she knows, god she knows that it wasn’t him and she feels like the biggest bitch in the universe. He realizes that they’re over before she does. He can read her so well it scares her. She just has so many other things going on in her life and she needs to focus on them. She doesn’t have time for a real relationship.

They both have trauma they have to deal with.

***

How she deals with her trauma is by trying to ruin everything her mom is doing. And Reggie.

It’s shallow and stupid and he has deeper feelings than she does but it feels good and it’s okay. She’ll stop it when he takes that second step.

***

She doesn’t stop it. She feels something for Reggie and she wants to explore it and maybe the push she needs is seeing the way Archie treats Josie. The push is wanting someone to treat her the same and Reggie provides that.

***

She likes Reggie and they go to the dance together and they’re official. They are boyfriend and girlfriend and Bonnie and Clyde. She can’t let go of the connection she feels to him and she needs it to breathe.

She sees Archie dancing with Josie and an ache goes through her whole body.

_She misses him so much._

***

She pushes her feelings for Archie to the back of her brain, with the rest of everything she doesn’t want to deal with and throws herself into dismantling everything her mom is trying to build and throws herself into Reggie.

***

Reggie drops the L-bomb on her and her heart literally stops and she has to cough to get it beating again. She smiles at him and tells him softly how she has had to deal with a lot and can’t reciprocate his feelings right now but that she really likes him. As soon as he gives her the okay she’s out of the speakeasy and driving home where she lays staring at the ceiling for hours.

How can she love someone that isn’t Archie? She hasn’t done that before, she’s only ever loved him.

***

Cheerleading practice is over and she doesn’t want to go home yet so she wanders around the school for a bit before sitting at the bottom of the stairs. She rubs her face and thinks of Reggie. She has to end things. She doesn’t love him and she doesn’t want to lead him on.

She feels him before he sits next to her and it doesn’t surprise her that she has that connection with him. She can feel him walk into a room before she even sees him.

“You okay?” His voice is soft and wonderful, it’s music to her ears and her heart calls out to him.

She misses him, misses talking to him and late night drives. Misses looking at him like he’s her everything. She nods her head and she feels his hand on her back, it relaxes the muscles in her back and she leans even closer to him, her body reacting like a magnet to his.

“You can talk to me, Ronnie.” He says curiously.

“Reggie told me he loved me.” She feels his body tense and she likes it. She feels guilty because Josie is her friend and she doesn’t want to hurt her.

***

His lungs are constricting the air trying to leave. He wants to ask if she returns Reggie’s feelings but he doesn’t want to know the answer. It’ll be too painful.

“Oh.” Is all he can get out. He’s trying to hold all his emotions in and not give his feelings away.

“Yeah.” She sighs.

He wants to know more but at the same time not, but he’s her friend and he just said that she can talk to him.

“And?” He says and she looks at him, her eyes examining his face.

“I couldn’t say it back.” He sighs in relief but plays it off as a cough, her eyes still burning his face.

“Well, as we know, you don’t love easy, Ronnie.” He nudges her slightly, notifying her that he’s kidding. She smiles at him and he continues, “it’s hard for you, but you just have to focus on how he makes you feel and you can love.”

He’s pulling advice out of his ass and he wants to scream and tell her not to love Reggie but she deserves to be happy and if Reggie does that, then who is he to stand in the way?

“Well- what if I can’t say it back because I still love you?”

***

She looks into his eyes to gather his reaction and she sees the surprise in them but she doesn’t get a hint of anything negative. Her heart is beating so fast at her word vomit and her whole body is hot but she doesn’t regret it.

Especially when Archie lets a smile grow on his face.

***

Her words catch him off guard and his heart is screaming and beating out of his chest because Veronica still loves him and he loves her. He lets a smile grow on his face and watches as a smile makes its way onto Veronica’s beautiful face.

***

They look at each other in the silence of the empty school and they both know that this is it. This is their second chance and they are not about to let it slip away.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I'm back at it again with the shitty angst. This was just playing around in my brain so I wrote it down.
> 
> Love you the most, 
> 
> ronniiekins.


End file.
